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Der Plan sah vor, im Frühjahr 2023 direkt wieder ins Studio zu gehen, bei dem alten Freund Paul Grau in Motril, Spanien. Noch euphorisiert von der gelungenen Herbst-Tour machten Gisbert zu Knyphausen, Moses Schneider und Tobias "der dünne Mann" Friedrich Nägel mit Köpfen und buchten, was zu buchen war. Einziges Problem: sie hatten keinen einzigen neuen Song. Aber man wächst an seinen Aufgaben, nicht wahr? Irgendwo in der untersten Schublade, hinter der Rolle Zwirn, dem Anspitzer und der Ballpumpe lag dann doch noch das ein oder andere Instrumental, ein halbes Lied, ausgeschwitzte Reime und drei angebissene Texte. Um Weihnachten herum kamen in einem klammen, kleinen Übungsraum noch diverse ganz neue Stücke hinzu. Im Januar 23 traf sich die Husten-Delegation mit der Live-Ergänzungsmaschine Marcus Schneider (Gitarre), Ben Lauber (Schlagzeug) und Arne Augustin (Keyboard), um 15 oder 16 neue Lieder zu arrangieren. Obwohl Motril nicht mit Wärme und Sonne geizte, sahen sich am Ende der zwölftägigen Aufnahmen alle etwas verwundert an ob der Düsternis der Stücke. Wie sollte man das Konvolut sinnvoll auf einem Album anordnen? Also alles auf Schwarz. Von dunkel nach hell.Auf dem Weg kommt man aus dem dystopischen "Bis morgen, dann" an der Trauer von "Ja und ja" vorbei, schaut "Elli" dabei zu, wie sie unter die Armutsgrenze rutscht, bettelt "Lass mich bitte nicht in Ruh", blickt auf "Die andere Seite der Angst", sieht dem verblichenen Träumer Achim hinterher, tanzt "Nüchtern im Club", stellt sich hinter dem "Flamingo Hotel" ein paar philosophische Fragen, erinnert sich an ferne Tage und "Weiße Tiger" und bittet die Welt um Vergebung, da der perfekte Song auch mit "Für immer und ewig" nicht gelungen ist. Am Ende erschien es nur logisch, das Album "Aus einem nachtlangen Jahr" zu nennen.Ladies and Gentlemen: Aus einem nachtlangen Jahr - wohin auch immer. PS: Es passt sprichwörtlich ins Bild, dass die Berliner Künstlerin Tina Berning an wunderschöner Melancholie kaum zu überbietende Zeichnungen beisteuerte, für die Dunja Berndorff das perfekte Artwork fand.

Die norwegische Metalcore-Band verbindet Genres und überschreitet mit ihrem einzigartigen Sound Grenzen, erntet internationales Lob und festigt ihre Position als Pionier im norwegischen Metalcore. Bekannt für ihren experimentellen Ansatz und die Verschmelzung von klassischem Metalcore mit urbanen Elementen, hat sich ATENA als eine ernst zu nehmende Kraft im Genre etabliert. 'Subway Anthem', das mit Spannung erwartete neue Album von ATENA, wird vom renommierten schwedischen Produzenten Henrik Udd (Bring Me The Horizon, Architects oder Imminence) gemischt und gemastert. Das Album verspricht, die Grenzen ihres Genres noch weiter zu verschieben und die Fans mit furchtloser musikalischer (Neu-)Erkundung zu fesseln. Zusätzlich zur bevorstehenden Albumveröffentlichung bereitet sich ATENA auf eine spannende Herbsttour 2023 vor, bei der sie ihre elektrisierenden Live-Auftritte dem Publikum in ganz Europa präsentieren. Ihre Single 'Subway Anthem' hat bereits große Anerkennung gefunden.

The DIAMOND DOGS ladies and gentlemen!
One of the world's finest pure rock & roll bands, still doing it just how they please, sounding better than ever.
New record "About The Hardest Nut To Crack" was recorded live. 12 brilliant tracks, all mixed/produced/written and arranged from scratch at Strawberry Studios over eight days in the early spring of 2023. It's a hell of a statement!

Sound Like: The Faces, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood, J Geils Band.

»This River Only Brings Poison« was released in 2002 as the sixth full-length album of Chris Hooson’s Dakota Suite project. This first-ever vinyl edition of the record includes four bonus pieces and makes it possible for fans to re-evaluate one of the most crucial Dakota Suite albums in the project’s vast discography while also providing new listeners with an entry point into its intricate musical cosmos. With contributions by artists as diverse as steel guitarist Bruce Kaphan and drummer Tim Mooney from American Music Club, Derald Daugherty, and Laura and Chris Donohue as well as long-time collaborators such as David Buxton, Colin Dunkley or Ed Collins, »This River Only Brings Poison« turned out as a sonically rich and stylistically versatile as it is emotionally multi-layered.

»Writing music for me has always been a cathartic exercise,« explains Hooson. While the instrumental pieces generally serve to express a raw sense of his internal struggles, his vocal-led songs communicate them more directly. »Those are the words I cannot say openly. It’s not that I cannot voice them in a conversation, it’s just that they only seem half-formed and not ›true‹ unless they are located within a song,« he says. What makes Dakota Suite unique is that throughout the project’s history, the music and lyrics have always had a single addressee: Hooson’s wife Johanna, whose photographs were used for the album artwork and who is featured on clarinet on »sand fools the shoreline.«

»The title of the record was something that I had said when Johanna and I first met to make her see that the journey she was considering taking would be full of love, but also come at a cost,« explains Hooson. »The songs were written at a time when I was really struggling to think I could be the person that she deserved.« In the end however, »This River Only Brings Poison« marked a turning point in Hooson’s oeuvre after highly productive time with Dakota Suite: it would take another five years until he returned with a new album. »The reason for that was that I needed to accept that she had made her choice to be with me and that was a big thing for me to get my head around,« he says.

Hooson’s highly personal approach to writing songs also has an impact on the ways in which he works with his collaborators when recording them. »The people with whom I play really need to understand how I perceive the world to be able to play what I need,« he says. »My instructions would always be things like, ›This is what the song means to me, this is what I am trying to communicate to Johanna when she hears it, so your cello, for example, needs to sound like you have noticed that the cloud is covering the sun, and the weight of the air on your skin is heavier and it has unsettled you.‹«

For this particular record, he reached out to Mooney and Kaphan as an admirer of their group American Music Club. Expecting to be rejected, he instead found himself on a flight to San Francisco together with multi-instrumentalist Buxton shortly thereafter, about to make what he today calls one of his most cherished recording experiences. After the four musicians finished the basic tracks, overdubs were added in Hooson and Buxton’s respective houses as well as Daugherty’s home studio while Hooson was visiting his old friend in Nashville.

Hooson emphasises that revisiting his older releases can be complicated. »I feel intense feelings, as every record is a diary of who I was in that period and what I was feeling. That is why having to play the songs live is always like having PTSD: I need to re-experience the event that caused me to write the song, and I do not enjoy that.« He remains, however, proud of »This River Only Brings Poison,« pointing especially to the opener »the lepers companion« as what might perhaps be his favourite song of his. »But overall I just hope that Johanna feels it spoke to her,« he says, adding that the two do not discuss his records. »For me it's enough that she is listening to the things I mean to communicate to her.«

LB aka LABAT reflects on the back catalogue of his Poumpet Records imprint with a special gatefold 3x12’’ release.

Since the launch of Poumpet Records back in February of 2022 French producer, DJ and live act LB aka LABAT has steadily unveiled a series of singles from himself and remixes from the likes of KiNK, X Club, Partiboi69, Sally C and KETTAMA, all of which feature on this special vinyl issue spread out across three records in a gatefold package.

The vinyl release also coincides with LB aka LABAT’s All Night Long tour which sees him travelling across Europe with dates in France, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, the UK and Scotland.

Mit einer #1 in den UK-Vinyl-Single-Charts und der Ankündigung ihres vierten Albums festigen JOHN 2023 ihren Ruf als kompromisslose Post-Hardcore-Kraft. Mit Barry Adamson (The Bad Seeds, Magazine) und dem preisgekrönten Schauspieler Simon Pegg als Gäste vereint 'A Life Diagrammatic' Schlagkraft und Intensität ihrer atemberaubenden Live-Shows mit den zunehmend strukturellen, cineastischen und expressiven Sensibilitäten der Band. Für die Abmischung wurde Seth Manchester (Big Brave, Battles, METZ) engagiert, während Frank Arkwright (Mogwai, Arab Strap, Squarepusher, Autechre) das Mastering in den legendären Abbey Road Studios übernahm. Das Ergebnis ist ein reichhaltiges und eindrucksvolles Hörerlebnis einer fesselnden und genreübergreifenden Band.

After a busy and prolific work on his acoustic-electronic project and soundtrack compositions, Mischa Blanos wears again his clubbing outfit, returning with a three track EP for his techno and live electronics awaiting crowd in the dancing arena. Linear EP evokes the ethereal experience of clubbing, where time feels like grinding to a halt as if plunging through an open door into a new world.

Taking the vantage point of the dancefloor, Mischa Blanos recalls entering this space where time doesn't play a heavy role anymore. Be it two hours or eight in a nightclub, be it day or night, dusk or dawn, one doesn't seek time traveling but time stopping, as a way to relieve the time burden in our high-speed society. We tend to perceive that time is running at a faster pace, but time itself does not pass, what passes are things and living beings. Time is neither linear nor circular, time does not flow or move, but allows us to do so. And it is here on the dance floor that this reality can be felt.

Everything is moving, vibrating and changing from the flashing lights to the loud decibel kicks and everyone is both audience and performer on the stage. They all belong to the scene. Sometimes this could mean an individual experience, being completely absorbed in dancing or a parallel space, and other times it means togetherness, feeling an integral part of the experience. In his techno dedicated Linear EP Mischa Blanos speaks about clubbing as a form of escapism, but a form that can help us to reach a better understanding of our relationship with time.

With his surprising first solo album Edmund November, Edmund Lauret (Nordmann, Kosmo Sound, The Milk Factory) returns to his British roots and the music he grew up with. He also debuts as a singer. "I had been making solo songs for a while, but that process was accelerated during the corona period," he says. "I think there has always been a singer inside of me and now it has come out."

The idyllic setting of the southern English countryside where Edmund and his band recorded the album undoubtedly had an impact on the organic, vintage British character of the music.

The songs are open and expansive like the landscapes around the recording studio. The titles and lyrics also have an elusive character; Lauret prefers to leave them to the imagination of the listener.

What is also striking is that Edmund November is clearly influenced by music from the sixties and seventies, the songs Edmund grew up with. As a young guitarist, Edmund was enthralled by Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, early Pink Floyd and The Beatles.

His influences showed him how to master the balance between harmony and melody. This is how Lauret has always worked with his bands for the past fifteen years, and in that sense his solo work is no different.

Edmund November floats between psychedelic folk and melancholy pop. The songs were recorded live with minimal editing, which only adds to the liveliness of the record. Ten songs take the listener on a dreamy musical trip that showcases Edmund's singer-songwriter qualities.

ENG The new Will Toledo from Austria? - LAUNDROMAT CHICKS is the music project of TOBIAS HAMMERMÜLLER, who just turned 18 and still goes to school. He recorded most of the songs from his debut on Siluh Records by himself. Live he performs them with his band featuring Lena Pöttinger (drums), Theresa Strohmer (guitar, vocals) and Felix Schnabl (bass). Felix Schnabel, on the other hand, has his own garage punk project called SALAMIRECORDER, with Tobias playing bass. Musically, the whole thing sounds like an exquisite jingle-jangle indie/twee-pop sound. It almost seems like a lost album from early influential labels like Flying Nun, Cherry Red, Postcard Records. The songs from "Trouble" were mostly written at home, in the bedroom, in front of the TV and at his favorite spot at the movies. The basic mood of the songs is mostly melancholic, though that you can still cook or dance to, or listen to on the bus when you're on your way to going out with your friends. Tobias Hammermüller took inspiration from the indie rock sound of the 2010s (Snail Mail, Chastity Belt, The Babies, Best Coast, The Drums) and from many new wave hits (Aztec Camera, Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, Prefab Sprout). The lines of text are largely based on quotes from films. He is particularly fond of the old strips by Éric Rohmer and Wim Wenders, and from New Hollywood/Nouvelle Vague movies, because they often deal with identity crises and escapism, just like his songs.

„Dick This!“ von dem Rockabilly-Projekt Dick Brave and the Backbeats wurde erstmals 2003 veröffentlicht und erreichte Platz 1 der offiziellen deutschen Album-Charts und wurde mit Doppel-Platin ausgezeichnet. In dem Album wurden Pop-Klassiker im Rockabilly-Projekt neu interpretiert. Jetzt wird es als 1LP auf schwarzem Vinyl wieder neu aufgelegt.

"Creating this record took me around 2 years, I was moving quite a bit, without a steady working or living space, travelling and playing live again for the first time since the pandemic. At first there was creative insecurity and many abandoned ideas, I wanted to make something special for YUKU but everything felt dry and soulless. In my head this was supposed to be a dancefloor record, but this idea quickly became an obstruction in my creative flow.

During this time I started learning modular synthesis, and although there was definitely a learning curve this method of making music gave the record direction and refreshed my way to approach composition. It is also very fun to learn. What came out is a collage of sorts that is more honest and reflective of my emotions and those of the people and spaces that I have exchanged with. Thanks to YUKU and the amazing people that took part in this record and in my life in the past two years. Hope you all enjoy."

- Joaquin Cornejo

A superb and under-recognized recording, Crisis is one-third of a trilogy of extraordinary albums -- the others being Broken Shadows and Science Fiction -- by Coleman's small groups of the late '60s and early '70s. A rendition of the piece "Broken Shadows" itself, a dirge of astonishing beauty second only to his "Lonely Woman," opens the live performance and offers solos of deep and poignant probity from Coleman and tenorist Dewey Redman, whose earthy growled tones counterbalanced the leader's so well for so long. Crisis somehow lacks the reputation of the revolutionary Coleman albums from early in his career, but on purely musical grounds it ranks among his most satisfying works.

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album, ‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.

Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.

Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave and courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ - ‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy.

It's only just begun.’ Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each song is definitely a standstill moment.’

Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends, relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’

Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”

And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her.

She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.

While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before.

‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

• It was standard practice in the 1960s for British beat groups to pepper their repertoires with American R&B songs. Formed by five music-loving schools from Blackpool, the Missfits were no exception. Although they group released no records during their time together, for two brief years they were the toast of Blackpool clubland. They played at the same veues as local bands such as the Rockin’ Vickers, including some gigs at the famous Oasis Club in Manchester and at the short-lived Blackpool branch of the Twisted Wheel.

• In February 1964, they won a recording test in a talent competition and travelled to London that summer to commit some of their favourite songs to tape. The tape reel was soon forgotten and thought lost but Janet had thankfully kept it safe, enabling the appearance of the four tracks on this 60s-style vinyl EP. Drummer Janet Baily provides lead vocals on their version of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Dimples’, and bass player Pauline Moran sang lead on Bo Diddley’s ‘You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover’, Chuck Berry’s ‘I’m Talking About You’ and Ray Charles’ ‘What’d I Say’, with guitarists Andrea Hine, Carola Daish and Liz Hall joining in on backing vocals.

Classic Jazz Album from 1978.
Featuring an all-star line-up.
First ever vinyl reissue since 1986.
Released for the first time in the UK & North America.
180g BLACK vinyl limited to 500 copies (w/obi strip).

Curtis Fuller (December 15, 1932 – May 8, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist best known for being a member of several legendary jazz outfits, his impressive catalog of solo albums and a contributor to many classic jazz recordings.

Fuller was born in Detroit and lost both his parents at a very young age. He spent several years in an orphanage run by Jesuits where he developed a passion for jazz after one of the nuns there took him to see his first live performance. Curtis attended public school in his hometown (together with Donald Byrd and Milt Jackson) where he took up the trombone at the age of sixteen.

Curtis Fuller was a well-respected member of iconic outfits such as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Art Farmer’s Tentet, The Benny Golson Quintet and Eastern Rebellion. The list of his collaborations is impressive to say the least, Mr. Fuller recorded and performed with greats such as Quincy Jones, John Coltrane, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Roland Kirk Rashaan, Miles Davis…and many others.

Fuller was granted an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music in 1999 and eight years later he was honored as a NEA Jazz Master. Curtis Fuller’s performances were included on classic recordings released by prominent labels from the likes of Blue Note, Savoy, Prestige, Strata-East, Muse, Verve and Impulse!

On the album we are presenting you today: Four On The Outside (Recorded in 1978 at the famous New York CI Recording Studio and released on Timeless Records the same year) the listener is treated to six majestic tracks of the highest caliber and features a remarkable outing of advanced musicianship by jazz-giants in their prime, delivering an inspirational gem of an album.

The all-star line-up includes Pepper Adams (Oliver Nelson, Lalo Schifrin, Herbie Hancock) on saxophone, Dennis Irwin (The Jazz Messengers, Chet Baker) on bass and James Williams (Calvin Keys, Thelonious Monk) on piano.

Four On The Outside shows off Fuller’s mastery of the Trombone and this delightful set features him in a front line with Pepper Adams delivering a unique trombone-baritone saxophone combination (few others have followed this intriguing coupling). Curtis Fuller plays from the heart and is on top of his game. Expect sharp and elegant original compositions, machine gun-like spurts, angular boppish lines and top rhythm section work that never gets in the way of the horns spreading their wings. All of the above makes this record a must have for any self-respecting jazz fan or collector!

Maurice Louca & his band Elephantine announce Moonshine, shining brightly with a live, raw, collective sound. Maurice Louca's band is incredible: double drummers Tommaso Cappellato & Özün Usta, Piero Bittolo Bon on alto, Daniel Gahrton on baritone and Isak Hedtjärn on clarinet, Rasmus Svale Kjærgård Lund on tuba, Rosa Brunello on bass, Els Vandeweyer on vibraphone, Louca on guitar/lap steel/synth.

As Asher Gamedze puts it in his essay: "Abstract territories of freedom, always grounded, expansive, multiple, internally differentiated, and elephantine."

One of the most gifted, prolific and adventurous figures on Egypt's thriving experimental arts scene, Louca has in recent years garnered a global reputation through three previous solo albums and an expanding, evolving lineup of genre-defying collaborations. The Wire called his 2014 sophomore solo effort, Salute the Parrot, "remarkable music-dense, driven and splashed with colour.

For Louca, Elephantine serves as both the pinnacle of his wide-ranging experience and a bold next step in his development as a composer, arranger and bandleader, from Cosmic Jazz, African and World music to transcendental modal traditions. The music-from its pensive lulls through its stretches of hard-grooving hypnosis and moments of avant-jazz.

The female-led discodelic soul band Say She She, named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers (C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!”), release their sophomore album ‘Silver’ on the heels of an epic break-out year that grows brighter by the day.

The three strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. This harmonizing trio was formed in a classic New York tale of friends that met by following the music: the downtown dancefloors, through the

Lower East Side floorboards and up to the rooftops of Harlem.

‘Silver’ was entirely written and recorded live to tape at Killion Sound studio in North Hollywood earlier this year and produced by Sergio Rios (of Orgone). While these analog recording techniques help root Say She She’s sound in a bedrock of tonal warmth that only tape can achieve, it is also their process of cutting the track

in the moment and capturing the magic of communal creativity that has seen their sound described as “a glorious overload of joyful elation and spiritual elevation” (MOJO) and “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early '80s NYC” (The Guardian).

Silver, the element, is known as the metal of self-confidence and the mirror of the soul. With that, the 16-song double-LP projects not only their growth in writing with confidence, but also reflects a deeper exploration into their punk-chic, femmeforward sensibility.

Ultimately, ‘Silver’ oozes with quirk and adventure and embraces the multifaceted nature of what it means to be a modern femme. The She She's fully embrace their role as beauticians, actively reminding people of the inherent beauty in the world. They skillfully employ double entendres and humor to encourage open dialogue and fearlessly address important matters that demand attention.

The female-led discodelic soul band Say She She, named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers (C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!”), release their sophomore album ‘Silver’ on the heels of an epic break-out year that grows brighter by the day.

The three strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. This harmonizing trio was formed in a classic New York tale of friends that met by following the music: the downtown dancefloors, through the

Lower East Side floorboards and up to the rooftops of Harlem.

‘Silver’ was entirely written and recorded live to tape at Killion Sound studio in North Hollywood earlier this year and produced by Sergio Rios (of Orgone). While these analog recording techniques help root Say She She’s sound in a bedrock of tonal warmth that only tape can achieve, it is also their process of cutting the track

in the moment and capturing the magic of communal creativity that has seen their sound described as “a glorious overload of joyful elation and spiritual elevation” (MOJO) and “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early '80s NYC” (The Guardian).

Silver, the element, is known as the metal of self-confidence and the mirror of the soul. With that, the 16-song double-LP projects not only their growth in writing with confidence, but also reflects a deeper exploration into their punk-chic, femmeforward sensibility.

Ultimately, ‘Silver’ oozes with quirk and adventure and embraces the multifaceted nature of what it means to be a modern femme. The She She's fully embrace their role as beauticians, actively reminding people of the inherent beauty in the world. They skillfully employ double entendres and humor to encourage open dialogue and fearlessly address important matters that demand attention.

The undoubted Queen of British Soul and 2023 Olivier Award winner, Beverley Knight returns with a brand new album The Fifth Chapter - on September 29th on Tag8/BMG. The album Includes the first single “Last One On My Mind” which was ROW on R2 and the follow up “Systematic Overload ” which we expcct to also be a R2 favourite
Zoe Ball will be playing Systematic Overload as a first play on R2 on 17th September. Beverley appears at R2 In The Park on 16.09 with appearances on Vernon Kaye TOMY, Rylan KaRyoke appearance confirmed live and interviews with Graham Norton, and a Chris Evans session on Virgin. Press to include Guardian, Sunday Times, and Attitude.
The Fifth Chapter comes on the back of what has undoubtedly been Beverley’s most successful period ever as the iconic Ms Knight celebrates 30 years making music with several top 10 albums and over a million UK albums sold.
UK national TV appearances will support the album release - we expect Royal Variety, Strictly, Sunday Brunch, The One Show and BBC Breakfast news performances and interviews, while Beverley has already appeared on ITN News, and GoggleBox on the launch of the album.
Beverley will take on her biggest ever UK tour throughout October and November, to over 30,000 people, ending with a headline date at the London Palladium on November 14th. The album brings together some of the greatest contemporary songwriting talent including Diane Warren, Seb Coe, Ollie Green and Andrew Roachford, as well as co-production with the likes of AC Burrell, Jimmy Hogarth, Mitch Allen & Josh Cohen/DJ Waldie, The Fifth Chapter is a spectacular journey through the inspirations that have defined her incredible career.
Beverley has collected numerous awards and accolades including an MBE, three MOBO Awards, numerous Brit and Mercury Music Prize nominations and, most recently, an Olivier Award for her role as Emmeline Pankhurst in the critically acclaimed musical SYLVIA at London's Old Vic Theatre. She also recently appeared as a judge on Starstruck alongside Adam Lambert, and Shania Twain.

The mystery continues to deepen, as you hear whispers beckoning you out to the sea...

After refining their dark and seductive vision of alternative/gothic metal to surreal, cinematic levels with three EPs and a full-length album, The Cause of Shipwreck, behind them, the Assen-based Blackbriar continue to set their sails towards the future in 2023, signing with Nuclear Blast Records and working towards their second full-length album, again accompanied by long-time collaborator Joost van den Broek.

Formed in 2012 by Zora Cock, René Boxem, Bart Winters, and Frank Akkerman, they crafted their first single in 2014 with “Ready to Kill,” but it was 2015’s second single “Until Eternity” that truly propelled them into the scene. A sweeping track with an equally compelling and beautiful video, it continues to draw many to the act with over 18.1 million views since its debut. Taking advantage of the growing buzz surrounding the band, they independently recorded and released their first EP, Fractured Fairytales, as well as acquiring a second guitarist in Robin Koezen. This EP layed down an impressive foundation for the band’s ethereal and breathtaking sound and brought about new opportunities for the act, including tour dates in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and more, where the band played alongside Epica, Halestorm, In This Moment, Delain and MaYan. To keep moving ahead with full control of their creative ideals, the band successfully crowdfunded their follow-up EP, We’d Rather Burn, and brought it to life in October 2018. This EP would be the first time the band worked alongside esteemed producer Joost van den Broek to arrange and produce the effort, and this fruitful collaboration allowed Blackbriar’s whimsical and enigmatic sound to reach new sonic heights. Released the same day as their self-made video for “I’d Rather Burn,” this EP showcased a stronger sense of dreamy atmosphere and brought listeners beautifully grim tales of witches, banshees, and sea sirens. In the time following, keyboardist Ruben Wijga (ex-Re-Vamp) took a larger role within the band and began playing shows, after being involved in the songwriting process since Fractured Fairytales.

A busy 2019 followed, the band released a haunting single in May entitled “Snow White and Rose Red.” A duet with Ulli Perhonen, their take on the Grimm’s fairytale featured striking cinematic visuals to accompany the spellbinding track. Continuing to dig deeper into fairytale realms, Blackbriar closed the year with their third EP, Our Mortal Remains. Ever-sharpening their intoxicating blend of storytelling and breathtaking musicianship, the EP brought about new live exposures for the act as well. Small, sold out tours with Epica in 2019 and 2020, as well as a sold out opening for Delain’s Apocalypse & Chill release show in Utrecht followed, with more future plans then being put on hold due to COVID-19. Championing their continued independence, which included everything from songwriting, maintaining their web presence, overseeing merch, as well as shooting and producing their own videos and photos, Blackbriar reached out to their ever-growing and loyal fanbase for assistance to make their full-length album a reality in 2020. Fans fervently heeded the call, reaching the € 25,000 goal in under 24 hours and ending with a total of € 70,000 and achieving all five stretch goals. An impressive accomplishment for an independent act, which also showcases a strong internet presence with over 214,000 YouTube subscribers and 46.1 million channel views as well as 27.6 million Spotify streams and 150,000 monthly streamers on the platform.

There are only a few figures in music whose work influences and
shapes a genre as a whole. This is undoubtedly true of the Swede
Esbjörn Svensson. With his trio e.s.t., the pianist and composer
wowed audiences beyond age and genre affiliations. And his
influence on jazz as a whole reverberates to this day and already
within the second and third generation of musicians worldwide.
‘HOME.S.’ is Esbjörn Svensson’s only solo album and the sheer
existence of such a recording and its completely unexpected
discovery over a decade after its creation are nothing less than a
sensation: Since the early 1990s, Svensson focused almost his entire
creative energy and recording activities on his work with e.s.t.. Thus,
these new recordings are not only the first, but practically the only
ones that show Svensson in a setting other than that of the trio:
Intimate, concentrated and completely one with himself. The
recordings for ‘HOME.S.’ were made only a few weeks before
Esbjörn Svensson’s sudden death on June 14, 2008. Svensson
recorded the music in his Swedish home.
For almost ten years afterwards, the album rested untouched in his
wife Eva Svensson’s personal archive. Here, she tells the story
behind the discovery of the album and the music: “After Esbjörn’s
passing, I made sure all the contents of his computer were saved to
backup hard drives. And then I basically left them untouched for the
next ten years. At the point where I eventually felt ready to look into
the material, I soon realised that there was something I wanted to
look into.
“I took the hard drive and went to Gothenburg to meet with Åke
Linton, the sound engineer who had worked on all e.s.t. albums as
well as on their live shows. He was also the one who had helped me
to save the material from Esbjörn’s computer in the first place. So he
probably already knew that there was something hidden in there. But
nobody had listened to it.
“We went to his studio. And we pressed the start button. Then there
was a total silence and we couldn't speak for the entire time the music
was playing. After it finished, at first we were not able to say anything,
because we were both so touched and surprised that it was all there,
and that it was so beautiful. The tracks seemed to follow one another
like pearls on a string. After we just had sat there for a while we
agreed: This is really good. Musically, but also from a sound
perspective.”

'In the span of just twelve months Girl Scout have stirred up a storm. The Stockholm based band appeared on the scene in 2022 with their mix of alternative grunge rock, big chorusses and glistening melodies and baffled fans with their raucous energy and contagious live shows. For the first time ever the quartet's music is available on vinyl. This LP unites their first EP Real Life Human Garbage and their second EP Granny Music, combining rock anthems and alternative pop songs that will make you want to put a badge on you denim jacket again.

Repress!

Bristol's soul jazz kings The Jazz Defenders release a new vinyl 45 single this autumn as a taster for their third album, which is destined for release in spring 2024. Once again, they are bringing together their love of 1960's soul jazz and golden era 90's hip-hop, just as they did on a couple of tracks on their last album "King Phoenix" (Haggis Records 2022). This new single sees them reunited with London MC/rapper Doc Brown, who guested on the track "Perfectly Imperfect", and his flow sits so naturally over the Jazz Defenders' music and beats, you'd think he's a permanent band member.

The A-side "Rolling On A High" is a real old school boom bap style party hip-hop jam. Big beats, rolling bassline (acoustic double bass), Ramsey Lewis soul jazz piano vamps, funky Hammond organ and some punchy horn section business, all topped off with Doc Brown bouncing bars back and forth with that laid back vibe he always brings to the mic. A guaranteed dance-floor bomb, whether you're a breaker, a jazz dancer or simply a Saturday night disco shuffler. The B-side "Looking Back" takes the tempo right down. An 'end of the night' number when the lights in the club are low, the last drinks are being drained and you're thinking and reminiscing about times gone by. The good times and bad, successes and mistakes. And made even more poignant and reflective halfway through when the mellow strings come into the song (once again excellently arranged by pianist/bandleader George Cooper). If "Rolling On A High" is the fire then "Looking Back" is definitely the ice. Proof that the Jazz Defenders can rock the party and grab the dancers but also dig deep with emotive tunes that draw in the discerning listener.

The Jazz Defenders, led by keyboard maestro George Cooper from The Haggis Horns, have been building a reputation as a great musical unit since their debut Blue Note/hard bop-inspired album "Scheming" appeared on Haggis Records back in 2019, which received a huge amount of praise from critics, and subsequently went on to spend 5 weeks in the top ten of the American jazz charts In 2021, their double A-side vinyl single "The Big Man/Love's Vestige" got them the breakthrough they deserved. It garnered heavy support on radio from top folks like Craig Charles (BBC6 Music), Helen Mayhew (Jazz FM), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), and Worldwide FM resident DJ's Ashley Beedle and Colin Curtis. They further enhanced their reputation as a rocking band with album number two "King Phoenix" and by electrifying audiences at sold out live shows across the UK, including the legendary Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.

Album number three is well on its way but for now, check out this tasty limited edition 45 single on Haggis Records. The JDs and Doc Brown...the perfect combination, still keeping that sweet jazz/hip-hop love affair alive today.

Die amerikanischen Black-Metal-Herrscher WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM kehren mit einer neuen EP zurück, Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge. Sie enthält vier neue Tracks, die die Bandbreite von WOLVES INTHE THRONE ROOMs cineastischem Black Metal und düsterem Akustik-Folk abbildet und den Hörer mit auf eine Reise durch atmosphärische Industrial-Tracks und dunklere klangliche Territorien nimmt. Eröffnet wird die EP mit "Beholden to Clan", einem flammenden Stück Symphonic Black Metal. GitarristKody Keyworth kommentiert: "Hoch oben auf einem heiligen Berg erinnert der Song an die Bedeutung des Zyklus der Wiedergeburt des geopferten Königs durch die halluzinogenen Rechte der Vorfahren. Es ist ein wilder Trip. Hail Othila!" An anderer Stelle folgt "Twin Mouthed Spring".

Dieser neue Track enthält Gesang und Akustikgitarre des WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM-Gründungsschlagzeugers Cedar Serpent, der vor kurzem nach einer jahrelangen Live-Pause auf die Bühne zurückgekehrt ist. Er kommentiert:

"Dieser Song ist eine Reise zu einer tiefen Quelle von Leidenschaft und Kreativität. Themen aus der keltischen Mythologie werden auseinandergenommen und neu interpretiert." Seite B der EP zeigt eine andere Seite der rätselhaften Band: "Initiates of the White Hart", eine atmosphärische Industrial-Interpretation von "Spirit of Lightning", führt die Band in tiefere, dunkle, psychedelische Gewässer.

„III“ wurde ursprünglich 1978 privat veröffentlicht und war bei Sammlern schon lange begehrt. Es ist das einzige Album des niederländischen Progressive-Rock-Quartetts Het Pandorra Ensemble, das von zwei Gitarren angetrieben wird und dem sie einen Hauch von Anarchie in ihre Mischung aus Improvisation und King Crimson einbrachten.

OPUS („Live is Life“) haben zwar ihr Karriereende bekanntgegeben, aber Schluss ist deshalb doch noch nicht.

Die Band – ohne Sänger – hat sich nämlich nun mit den Schick Sisters, die ebenfalls aus der Steiermark kommen, zusammengetan und veröffentlichen gemeinsam das Album „We Are One“ auf CD und als limitierte (300 only!) LP.

Geplant war zwar nur ein Song, doch die gemeinsame Arbeit im Studio hat sich für alle Beteiligten als derart fruchtbar herausgestellt, dass die Entscheidung ein Album aufzunehmen gar nicht getroffen werden musste.

Neben orchestrierten Stücken, darunter ein Song zum Weltfrauentag ‚We Are‘ (mit Arrangement von Christian Kolonovits), gibt es auch eine Gast-Performance von Opus Sänger Herwig Rüdisser. Das Artwork basiert auf der ‚Paradiso ‘ Werk-Trilogie des österreichischen Ausnahme-Malers Ernst Fuchs.

After forty years of marriage, Buddy and Julie Miller have learned to welcome a song however it arrives, questioning only where the song is taking them rather than where it originated - There's no process, no assembly-line procedure, just an openness to those bursts of inspiration and those hours of refinement, which means their fourth album together, In the Throes, sounds lively and diverse, eccentric and slightly askew: a deeply soulful collision of mournful gospel, dusty country, cosmic blues, lusty rockabilly, ecstatic r&b, and anything else that crosses their minds

Early on, his prodigious technique and wide-ranging style garnered comparisons with the great Oscar Peterson. But there has always been another side to Alexander's playing. Usually, jazz grabs the upper hand, but on occasion he digs deep into his Jamaican roots.

The 1974 We've Only Just Begun recording signals the beginning of Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander's fruitful relationship with MPS, lasting over a decade and encompassing some dozen albums. On many he partners with no one else than fellow Jamaican and one of the fathers of ska, guitarist Ernest Ranglin.

Among others, this Best Of includes tracks from Monty's MPS classics like RASS!, Here Comes The Sun, Montreux Alexander - The Monty Alexander Trio Live At Montreux, We've Only Just Begun, Monty Strikes Again, Cobilimbo, or the untitled Monty Alexander & Ernest Ranglin.

. The genre-defying Welsh group define their vision with a breath-taking new album, Islet’s ‘Soft Fascination’ is an ecstatic experience in music, an explosion of emotion subsumed in sound. The album is filled with high energy cadence and meditations on collective joy, a balancing act underpinned with glorious melodies and Emma Daman Thomas’ evocative vocals that swirl in the symphonic surf. Self-produced, and with instruments recorded live with few overdubs, the effect is direct, it veers from the upfront and immediate to the spacious and challenging. The first half is intentionally fast, intense, almost relentless. The second half is more spacious, as the album unravels and becomes more hazy. There is excitement and fascination and a willingness to show a lack of restraint in realising it, traversing hailstorms, hedgerows, broken promises and poisoned prayers; constantly breathing real life all in. Featuring standout singles: the pulsating ‘Euphoria’, the liberating flow of energy on ‘River Body’ and the recurring conundrum of choice of ‘Hat Person’, ‘Soft Fascination’ is an album of rare beauty. “A bewildering psychotropic storm” The Line Of Best Fit. // “Free-flowing experimental pop.”

Long Hours is a solo project by Julian Medor. Long hours has been coined as being lofi, nowave, synth punk croon-core, gothdoowop with a relentless live show inspired by frontmen such as David Yow (the Jesus lizard) JG Thirlwell (Foetus) Alan Vega (Suicide). Long Hours has performed up & down the east coast of Australia countless times and has toured japan twice. He has also released 27 albums in the space of 3 years. "Never Enough" is his first LP available on Beast Records.

When Claude was hunting for tracks to include in his 'Live in Detroit' album, he came across Chambray's 'Evenue' , which ended up making the final mix in his recorded Movement set. When we reached out to him about it, the Berlin artist sent us 4 demos and we signed them all. With an influence from the early stripped down jack sound of the Midwest, Chambray's productions add a polished style and wide range of musical character, both of which are in full display on his 'Where You At' EP. It's not easy to create a 'signature' sound that both crosses boundaries and also appeals to them all, yet Chambray's particular music feels effortless.

Deluxxe is a new post punk/new wave band from Buffalo, NY.

It was formed by Mason and Greg, and later completed with Nick, Bailey and Mackenzie, sharing members of Oi and hardcore bands such as Violent Way, Bad Blood and Exhibition. Their punk background can be heard in the music, but it’s the love for new wave, post punk, darkwave, and goth that led to creation of their debut record “If You Were Me”. Written in the cold winters of Buffalo, you can almost feel the harshness of the weather affecting the sounds that propagate from these grooves. Icy and frostbitten but somehow still relevantly civic and urban.

The Chameleons and The Sound are two main references here, but that whole cold dimension is rocked by a strong pop vein reminiscent of After The Snow-era Modern English and occasionally enhanced by an hoarseness typical of a young Paul Weller. Passionate lyricism proper of Echo And The Bunnymen and hopeless romanticism à la Sad Lovers And Giants get balanced by a sharp songwriting which keeps everything in perfect order, giving you exactly what you need, nothing more and nothing less.

You can tell some skinheads are involved here because the outcome is so tidy and neat, without losing one inch of atmosphere or enchantment. If you are wondering how something that was invented forty years ago can still sound, literally, fresh and cool, look no further because what this band delivers lives just up to its name.

Heavenly Recordings release the next two volumes in their series of remixed classics and unreleased versions. ‘Heavenly Remixes 7 & 8’ sees the label going back into the archive, as well as picking off some more recent remixes, and both albums primarily feature either previously unreleased versions or re-workings available for the first time on vinyl and CD.

Heavenly have always seen immense value in the remix, a value way beyond what it might bring commercially. Since their first release in 1990 (where Andrew Weatherall overhauled a one-off single by club kids Sly and Lovechild) Heavenly remixes have been carefully curated and treated as a key part of the A&R process. It’s an opportunity to view an artist through a different prism, to play out a musical ‘what if’ scenario. It’s the kind of exploration that’s happened consistently through the thirty plus years the label has released music.



The ‘Heavenly remixes’ series continues to showcase the very best remixes, versions, meditations, re-rubs and dubs from all around the world of artists right across the roster of the country’s most exciting record label. In most cases, the albums offer the first physical release for a remix, elevating them from streaming playlists to their rightful, spiritual home on super heavy vinyl (or shiny, super-packed compact disc).



‘Heavenly remixes 7’ heads to Belfast, where David Holmes - a producer who first appeared on Heavenly in 1994 amping up the acid on Saint Etienne’s ‘Like A Motorway’ - appears as solo artist and as one third of Unloved, who get a lift right to the heart of a Vauxhall sweatbox by Horse Meat Disco. It draws a line between Amsterdam and Frankfurt as Ludwig A.F. amps up the electronics on Pip Blom’s ‘Keep It Together’. It stops off in a south London studio where super producer Dan Carey plays the desk with Toy, then relocates LA psych rock band Fever The Ghost to an Ibizan shoreline as the sun sets on the horizon. It cements Sheffield’s reputation as the home of modern British techno with the return of true originators Forgemasters. And it pitches up in front of a renegade soundsystem late night at Glastonbury as Erol Alkan’s mighty rework of Con Man gets its third rewind of the night.



‘Heavenly remixes 8’ opens with Space Afrika’s lush, ambient reimagining of the Orielles’ ‘BEAM/S’ before Justin Robertson stretches Amber Arcades’ ‘Turning Light’ into eight minutes of electronic dub. Elsewhere, Baxter Dury’s peerless ‘Miami’ becomes a string-laden electro skank in the hands of French producer Pilooski; Edinburgh’s bedroom techno genius Eyes of Others’ ‘Safehouse’ turns into an East End bathhouse courtesy of disco deviants Decius; Ashley Beedle’s Black Science Orchestra turns Unloved’s heartworn torch song into seven minutes of glimmering dreamlike percussive house and Katy J. Pearson’s freak flag is flown high thanks to The Umlauts’ throbbing filtered electro mix. It ends similarly to how it began as TONE takes

Fran Lobo’s ‘All I Want’ on a gorgeous slow motion spacewalk.

Loser Edition auf kupferfarbenem Vinyl! Die Singer-Songwriterin JESCA HOOP lässt ihr neues Album "Memories Are Now" auf Sub Pop, dem Qualitätslabel aus Seattle, erscheinen. Zuletzt hatte sie dort zusammen mit Sam Beam (IRON & WINE) das Album "Love Letter for Fire" veröffentlicht, nun folgt ihr Soloalbum. Es ist ein Album voll wunderbarer Songs, die ursprünglich und voller Energie sind, und von einer Künstlerin stammen, die über viel Lebenserfahrung und emotionale Tiefe verfügt. JESCA HOOP zeigt in ihren Liedern ihr einzigartiges Talent für musikalische Erzählkunst und folgt weiter ihrer Berufung. Als grandiose Live Performerin ist sie bekannt für ihren wunderbar eklektischen Zugang zu Folk, Rock und elektronischer Musik. HOOP hatte vor der Kooperation mit Sam Beam schon fünf Alben und zwei EPs veröffentlicht, darunter die Kritikerlieblinge ,Hunting My Dress" und ,The House That Jack Built", und mit Künstlern wie SHEARWATER, WILLY MASON, BLAKE MILLS, ANDREW BRID, THE DITTY BOBS, GUY GARVEY und ELBOW getourt und kollaboriert und für die Labels Bella Union und Vanguard aufgenommen.

Im Februar 1994 veröffentlichten Green Day ihr hochgelobtes drittes Studioalbum, "Dookie". Als erstes Major-Label-Album der Band ist "Dookie" eines der einflussreichsten und prägendsten Alben der 1990er Jahre und verkaufte sich weltweit über 15 Millionen Mal, davon 10 Millionen Mal (RIAA Diamond zertifiziert) in den USA.

Das Album enthält fünf Hit-Singles: "Longview", "Basket Case", "Welcome to Paradise", "When I Come Around", und "She".

Am 29. September 2023 wird Warner Records zur Feier des 30-jährigen Jubiläums des Albums Limited Edition Super Deluxe Box Sets in Vinyl, CD und digitalen Formaten veröffentlichen. Die Sets enthalten unveröffentlichte Demos, Outtakes und unveröffentlichtes
Live-Material. Der Woodstock '94-Auftritt der Band - der erst 2019 als Record Store Day-Veröffentlichung erhältlich war - ist ebenfalls enthalten.

Limited BioVinyl 2023 repress, which provides an ecological alternative to the conventional vinyl record with strictly no sound or visual compromises.
“We all dance away our lives to the tune of the sovereign pleasure-pain axis.” – David Pearce, The Hedonistic Imperative

Pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance as a rave metaphor fits the music of Sam Barker. The Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas.

This was especially true on his 2018 Ostgut Ton debut EP Debiasing, which was flush with unconventional rhythmic chord stabs, melody and percussion but devoid of kickdrums. What seemed like an experimental exercise on paper was in reality equally geared towards the club: tracks that worked for the floor but resisted the genre categorizations that kick drums often provide. This has come to define Barker’s sound.

Now, on his debut solo LP Utility, Barker turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process. In his own words: “After ‘Debiasing’ it occurred to me that my musical decisions were often unintentionally utilitarian, following an instinct to maximize pleasure in one way or another. It’s sort of unfashionable to admit, but by removing elements that have strong genre associations, this became a natural consequence.”

Accordingly, Utility is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional and utopian.

Utility is by no means a concept album. Instead, it is an honest take on music as both pleasuremaximizer and consciousness-expander.

“We all dance away our lives to the tune of the sovereign pleasure-pain axis.” – David Pearce, The Hedonistic Imperative

Vergnügungssucht und Schmerzvermeidung als Rave-Metapher – das passt zur Musik von Sam Barker. Der Berghain-Resident und Leisure System-Mitbetreiber hat im Laufe der Jahre das euphorische Potenzial der Veränderung von Variablen in der Dancefloorschablonisierung erkundet.

Das traf besonders auf sein Ostgut Ton-EP-Debüt Debiasing zu, das nur so sprudelte vor unkonventionellen rhythmischen Akkordfolgen, Melodien und Percussion – die Kickdrum aber wegließ. Was auf dem Papier wie eine experimentelle Übung wirkte, war tatsächlich gleichermaßen für den Klub gemacht: Stücke, die auf dem Dancefloor funktionieren, sich dem oft vorgegebenen Kickdrumdiktat und damit einhergehender Genrekategorisierung aber verweigerten. So hat sich Barkers Klang definiert.

Auf seinem Solodebütalbum Utility widmet Barker seine Aufmerksamkeit nun aber der Verschmelzung von Experiment und Dancefloorpragmatismus mit der Psychologie hinter dem musikalischen Entscheidungsfindungsprozess. In seinen eigenen Worten: „Nach Debiasing kam mir in den Sinn, dass meine musikalischen Entscheidungen oft unbeabsichtigt utilitaristisch sind, einem Instinkt folgen, Glück auf die eine oder andere Art zu maximalisieren. Das einzugestehen ist recht unmodisch. Aber durch die Auslassung von Elementen mit starken Genreassoziationen, wurde dies eine recht natürliche Konsequenz.“

Dementsprechend ist Utility eine spielerisch-neckische aber unironische musikalische Betrachtungsweise eines ganzen Spektrums utilitaristisch und transhumanistischer Konzepte: Von Modellen zur Quantifizierung von Wohlergehen und Verläufen von Glückseligkeit („Gradients of Bliss“) zur Abschaffung von Leid für fühlende Wesen (meint: nicht nur den Mensch) über die ethische Nutzung von Drogen und Nanotechnologie. Im Laufe von neun Stücken ebbt und schwillt Barkers Vision durch Wogen zutiefst psychedelischer Musikvignetten; freifließende und futuristische Melodien und Rhythmen als gezielte Hirnstimulation. Der Klang gründet stark auf modularer Synthese, ebenso wie selbstgebaute mechnische Klangerzeuger, Instrumente und Plate Reverbs Atmosphären schaffen, die gleichermaßen fremdartig als auch emotional vertraut wirken, funktional und utopisch.

Utility ist keinesfalls ein Konzeptalbum. Vielmehr ist es eine aufrechte Auseinandersetzung mit Musik als Freudenmaximierung und Bewusstseinserweiterung.

Where Greasy Mike takes a trip to the Orient - and returns with 16 slices of sizzling spices in a sleazy Szechuan sauce! Expect all manner of tasty treats to liven up the party, but don't forget to bring the Baijiu!...

UK house icon Mr. G makes his FUSE debut alongside longtime friend and collaborator Duncan Forbes, with the two partnering for their excellent ‘Time To Dip’ EP.

An artist truly regarded as one of UK house music’s greats, Colin McBean, aka Mr. G, stands today as an individual at the pinnacle of the genre as his trademark sound and legendary live sets continue to tantalise crowds across the globe. A special guest at FUSE’s final show at London’s iconic Printworks in March, the event that went on to influence the EP’s curation, the UK mainstay heads to Enzo Siragusa’s globally renowned imprint for the very first time this September as he delivers his ‘Time To Dip’ EP alongside longstanding friend and regular collaborator, Duncan Forbes. Friends for many years, having known one another since Forbes’ Animated project, their collaborations on Phoenix G and 49North and recent LP have seen the duo uncover a selection of high- quality cuts from across the house spectrum - and here they showcase their innate chemistry across four tracks loaded with quality.

“Gotta say, this EP really is born outta standing on the stage before my set at FUSE at Printworks and listening to what was being played. When I got back I said to D that I wanted do something based around what I had heard, never really thinking Enzo or FUSE would get it, but how wrong we were. It’s another fab meeting of minds with D, which makes this joint EP so different yet special... I feel it covers many different bases and tempos, a real gem. Looking forward to see what folk make of it.” - Mr. G.

Title track ‘Time To Dip’ is classy house music that packs a punch typical of that trademark sound we’ve come to know and love. It’s heavy and tough yet stripped back and unquestionably dancefloor focused, all softened by hooky female vocals and hazy textures. Duncan’s ‘Sherbert Dip’ mix highlights the vocal and brings it to the fore as shuffling drums and sweeping melodies build around the elements. The flip welcomes ‘All Night’, a delightfully vibrant track pairing rich rhodes, swirling leads and sharp hats with an abundance of subtle jazzy textures, before Forbes’ ‘In The Zone’ remix delivers an immersive, heady and dubby late-night voyage for a mesmerising final ride.

Alinka Returns to Rekids with her latest EP ‘I’m Your Ghost’

Following the relaunch of her label Twirl alongside Shaun J. Wright, Alinka now brings her brand new EP' I'm Your Ghost' to Radio Slave's Rekids. Having made frequent appearances within its catalogue, her 'I'm Your Ghost' EP sees the Ukranian-born, Chicago-raised and Berlin-residing producer return with four eclectic and club-orientated house tracks. These will sit amongst her previous releases on Permanent Vacation, Needwant, HE.SHE.THEY and Crosstown Rebels.

'Teachers' is the first cut presented on 'I'm Your Ghost' with its sharp percussive layers building towards the well-honed grooves in its composition. Title-track 'I'm Your Ghost' punches through next with weighty, wobbling subs placed against a catchy lead. 'I Still Believe' is featured with rising chord progressions and pounding kicks as '909 Lives' draws the EP to a close with an intricate mix of synths and striding drum work, paying homage to its title. It’s a package highlighting why Alinka is on an unstoppable rise, with support from some of the biggest names across house music.